In the news

The way to a comic's heart through his belly

Share this

By
Sarah Lagan When staff at the Plymouth Evening Herald heard that Little
Britain duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams were in town doing a show
they stopped at nothing to get an interview.

The duo’s PR team
instantly dismissed the paper’s request, saying they weren’t doing
regional interviews, but a bright idea from reporter Tristan Nichols
had Lucas calling him and giving him an exclusive interview.

Herald
news editor James Garnett, deputy editor Andy Phelan and Nichols had
all read a previous interview with the comedians in the Daily Star and
remembered them listing a host of goodies they enjoyed eating after
their show, including Marks & Spencer’s melon, lemon and locally
produced jam and honey, to help massage their talented vocal chords.

The
paper decided to splash some petty cash on the ingredients and
delivered them to the comics’ dressing room with a copy of the Star and
a note saying: “We saw this and thought of you.” Nichols also sent a
copy of the Evening Herald, a review of their show and a comic strip
from the paper documenting his shopping spree.

Nichols said: “I
thought it was a bit of a long shot, but then they called and said
thanks for the goodies and that they thought it was an hilarious idea.

Matt
Lucas even invited me over for a photo shoot. It just goes to show that
if you make that little bit more effort anything’s possible, you should
never give up on something.”

The paper dedicated a full page to the interview with the comedy pair, in which they shared their views on Plymouth.